


Skinny Venti Vanilla Bean Soy Latte with Cinnamon and One Pump of Toffee Nut Syrup

by Styx_in_the_mud



Series: Welcome to Starbucks [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 03:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3752815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Styx_in_the_mud/pseuds/Styx_in_the_mud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanji's been waiting for his soulmate for a while, but that doesn't mean he wanted Nami to take the situation into her hands. He should have expected it though. Inspired by a tumblr post.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skinny Venti Vanilla Bean Soy Latte with Cinnamon and One Pump of Toffee Nut Syrup

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to get this out of my system, so as promised, a Zosan Welcome to Starbucks Story. As always, inspired by a post by [danydehaan](http://danydehaan.tumblr.com/post/95953813852/tumblr-really-likes-that-soulmates-first-word)

It wasn't his dream job or anything, but Sanji liked working at Starbucks. At least it was never boring. His co-workers were entertaining, and occasionally the customers were interesting too.     His usual crop included exhausted college students, efficient looking business people, and harried soccer moms. Sometimes though, he’d get one of _those_.

Everyone who worked in any Starbucks across the country had to be prepared for it. Really, anyone who worked in the service sector needed to be prepared for it, but Starbucks was the first business that actually started training their employees on how to respond to a potential soulmate. Endless sessions of powerpoints and role play exercises, what you should do if your greeting matches a customer’s words, how to let them down gently, what to do if you actually do find your soulmate on the other side of the counter. It was exhausting, but the baristas were nothing if not prepared by the time they actually had to deal with real customers. Sanji had had to deal with six people with Starbucks related soulmarks in his first month alone.

Letting them down was easy for him, all he had to do was show them his own mark. **I’ll have a skinny venti vanilla bean soy latte… with cinnamon… and one pump of… toffee nut syrup**. It was written in block letters on his collar bone. Of all the possible soulmarks, he had to get this one. His soulmate sounded either like a complete prick or one of the most pretentious people on the planet. Actually it worked out to about the same thing. He was tempted to kick them, or at least give them his best disappointed look (his friend Tony had been training him in the ways of the disappointed look for years now, he had it down to an art), and he hadn’t even met the person yet.  

He’s always felt kind of bad for the people he’d let down, men and women alike. He’d always send them away with a little something extra, a brownie or a biscotti or something, and wish them luck. So he was a romantic, sue him, and sometimes, in the darkest corner of his mind, he would admit that he was disappointed that he hadn’t found his soulmate yet. It had been years since his mark had come in, but he hadn’t even had any close calls yet. He always paid careful attention, especially to the men, seeing as the words looked like they were in a guy’s handwriting, and he had to start somewhere, but nothing. It was disheartening.

* * *

 

There was nothing worse than a Saturday morning shift. Preparing coffee for other people when you’ve barely had your own should be outlawed. Sanji stumbled into the shop, eyes half closed, and one side of his hair sticking up at angles. He’d overslept and missed the bus, so he’d had to walk to the store. He tugged off his jacket, and grinned at Nami, who was already set up behind the counter. She smiled and nodded at him, pushing a cup of very strong “Of course I didn’t put three espresso shots in there” coffee before reaching over to smooth down his hair. Nami was an angel.

 

The two of them have been working together almost from day one, and Sanji had been taken with her from the start. They aren’t soulmates, unfortunately. Nami is very much attached. Her soulmate Vivi is an absolute sweetheart, with a backbone of steel. She visits the shop every now and then during their more quiet hours. On those days, Sanji covers Nami’s shift and pretends he didn’t see the two of them sneak out to do god-knows what.

 

Nami is the only one of his co-workers who’s actually seen his soulmark. Patty and Carne would give him hell if they ever saw it, and the other guy who worked there, Usopp, Sanji didn’t know all that well, since they rarely worked together, but they got along well enough and he was Nami’s friend, so he couldn’t be that bad. However, he and Nami had had enough late night shifts together for her to coax it out of him. The moment she saw it her eyes widened and she smirked. That smirk grew into stifled giggles, and then full blown laughter, and he would have been offended if that bout of laughter hadn’t made her tense shoulders relax and removed the tired look from around her eyes. Late night shifts were kind of brutal. Instead he laughed with her and said “Yeah, it’s kind of a ridiculous mark, huh?”

“Oh no, it’s not that it’s just-” and she cracked up again.

 

He never did find out what _it_ was, since the shift ended and Vivi came to pick up her girlfriend. They both avoided the subject the next day, Nami because she couldn’t talk about it without laughing, and Sanji because it was a little embarrassing, damn it!

That Saturday, Nami watched as he gulped down his coffee as fast as the heat would allow, threw him his apron, and then _smirked_. Things ended badly for him when Nami smirked. Smirking led to “Sanji dear, would you please tell that nasty customer at the table by the window that he can’t smoke inside the shop.”

(That particular encounter had led to a rather impressive screaming match and coffee dumped onto his shoes. He sat in her kitchen that day while he waited for his pants to come out of the wash, since his shoes were a lost cause, and grumbled to Vivi that Nami was lucky he liked her. The girl had just laughed, patted his cheek, and said that he was much easier to push around than the rest of their boys.)

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re _smirking_.”

“Am I? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Nami-swan.”

“Yes Sanji dear?”

“What are you planning?”

“What makes you think I’m planning anything? Oh look sharp, we’ve got a customer.”

Sufficiently distracted, Sanji turned to take the first order of the day. One customer became five, which became ten, which became twenty and he couldn’t spare any more time to think about Nami or her diabolical schemes.

About an hour into the rush, he found her texting away madly, probably to Vivi. But as he passed by to grab another cup, he could hear her mutter something about uncooperative idiots. So definitely not Vivi then. She caught his eye, and he nodded towards the long line of customers. She hurriedly stuffed her phone in her pocket, and moved to help him. Later he caught the tail end of a phone call.

“Just get him here Luffy, the rest will happen on its own, trust me on this.”

Oh yeah, she was definitely planning something.

 

There was a half hour to go until the end of the shift, the customers had reduced to one or two, and Nami was starting to get more and more agitated. She kept turning to face the door, and then checking her phone over and over again. Sanji was getting worried. Suddenly the door chimed, and Nami’s head shot up. She took one look at the people who entered and grinned.

“Oi, Nami we came to visit!” yelled the black haired boy who was practically dragging a surly looking guy behind him.

The first guy looked like a child with a huge grin that split his face from ear to ear, messy hair, and a straw hat (which was completely inappropriate for the chilly, foggy weather they’d been having recently) hanging from around his neck. The second looked like he’d rather be anywhere but the shop. A scowl was set on his face and he looked intimidating, with three golden earrings hanging from one ear, and spiky green hair to boot. The grass head turned to Nami.

“This all his idea, I had no intention of visiting you today you witch.”

Sanji bristled, how dare he talk to her like that! But Nami just smirked at him, and was that a flash of fear he saw in the other man’s eyes?

“Aww Zoro, didn’t you want to visit one of your closest friends?”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Like I said, this was entirely Luffy’s idea, I had to drive him around.”

Sanji perked up at the name, it sounded familiar for some reason. Wasn’t Nami talking to a Luffy earlier? This did not look good.

“We got lost three times.” Luffy said with a grin

“We didn’t get lost” growled Zoro “We were taking the scenic route.”

“We were lost Zoro. We got lost even with a GPS. And we were only five blocks away the entire time. How did you even manage that?”

Nami laughed while Zoro out right pouted. Damn that was actually kind of a good look on him. Sanji groaned internally, feeling any sort of attraction towards this guy was not a good idea, he could tell, and not just because Nami was looking between them with an odd sort of gleam in her eye.

“Anyway, since you got us lost, you have to do the thing.”

“No.”

“Zoro, you _have_ to. A deal’s a deal.”

Zoro shook his head. Luffy gave him the saddest look Sanji had ever seen, there was no way Zoro was going to be able to hold out. He could see the other man’s resolve cracking.

“What are you making him do?” asked Nami, leaning on the counter with interest.

“Well since we were going to Starbucks, I told him that if he got us lost, he had to order the most ridiculous drink he could think of, and then drink the entire thing.”

Nami looked at them speculatively “Oh come on, that’s not the worst penalty you’ve had to pay.”

“Damn it Luffy! Fine, I’ll do it.” Luffy cheered, but Zoro ignored him as he turned to Nami “but I am _not_ placing my order with you.”

“Oh that’s perfectly fine. Sanji will take your order, won’t you Sanji dear?”

“Anything for you Nami”

Sanji saw the other man roll his eyes, this was going to be fun. He sidled over to the counter, and leaned towards him.

“Welcome to Starbucks, may I take your order?” he said in the most sarcastic voice he could produce. He raised his eyebrow, a challenge.

Zoro blushed. He honest to god blushed, and Sanji didn’t think this could get any better. The man ran a hand through his hair and looked at the menu board above Sanji’s head. “I’ll have a skinny venti vanilla bean soy latte… with cinnamon… and one pump of… toffee nut syrup.” He said, and then ducked his head, grumbling something incoherent. 

Sanji almost recoiled.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

“Huh?”

“What does your soulmark say?”

“What the hell do you need to know that for?”

He’s not exactly sure how, what with the counter in between them, but somehow Sanji finds himself inches from the other man’s face. He can count every freckle on that tanned nose, and can see the look of confused panic in those steely eyes. It’s ridiculously distracting, and it’s very important that Sanji is not distracted right now. He takes a deep breath and backs up. His fingers twitch a little. He could _really_ use a cigarette right about now. Those role play exercises and powerpoints were completely useless when his soulmate was actually standing in front of him, with a befuddled look that was equal parts annoying and endearing.

“Just- just show me your soulmark, okay.”

Nami and Luffy have retreated to a corner. Nami looks smug, and she’s texting again. It probably _is_ Vivi this time. Luffy just looks excited, and slightly confused. Sanji knows, in the back of his mind at least, that they have something to do with this. That, however, is a problem for later. Right now he needs to focus on Zoro, who is rolling up his sleeve, and holy hell how can anyone have biceps that big? Wrapped around said bicep were the words **Welcome to Starbucks, may I take your order?** in Sanji’s own slanted script.

Sanji let out a shaky breath, and pulled down his collar.

“Recognize the handwriting, moss head?”

Zoro’s eyes widened, taking in the words imprinted upon Sanji’s skin.

“You- I- what?”

Sanji couldn’t help it, he laughed. _Of course_ his soulmate would be a complete idiot.

“WAIT! Your coworker is Zoro’s soulmate!? Nami! Why didn’t you tell me that?” All of them spun to face Luffy. Nami slapped a palm to her forehead.

“Luffy you moron, why did you think I asked you to bring him here?”

“I dunno, maybe you just wanted to see us?”

“Oh my god!”

Sanji turned to Zoro “your friend isn’t the brightest, is he?”

Zoro laughed “Luffy’s something special.”

“I can’t believe they planned this” said Sanji over the noise of Nami screeching about Luffy’s general cluelessness.

“Actually, I’d expect it from Nami, but I’m surprised she got Luffy to play along.”

They both turned to look at their friends. Nami looked about ready to strangle Luffy, who still didn’t seem to understand why she had to engineer the entire meeting in the first place.

Zoro smirked. “You wanna help me get back at them?”

Sanji grinned “Oh yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this one had me beating my head against a wall for most of it. It was almost harder to write than the E/R one, and I have no idea why. Anyway, headcanon time.  
> 1\. Freckly Zoro, Yesssss!  
> 2\. Every time Zoro gets lost, his friends make him pay a penalty in the hopes that he’ll grow out of it. He’s had to do everything from pet-sitting Brook’s goldfish to paying for the group’s dinner to dressing as a sexy nurse for Halloween. He shows no sign of growing out of it.  
> 3\. Zoro doesn’t react to hearing “Welcome to Starbucks…” anymore because he’s sort of a coffee addict. He goes in so often, and hears it so often that he’s just stopped reacting. It doesn’t even cross his mind that Sanji could be his soulmate, which is why he’s so confused when Sanji asks to see his mark.  
> 4\. Luffy is ace/aro, so his soulmarks are all platonic. He’s got 9, one for each of his Nakama.  
> 5\. Nami’s says “You can’t just crash into people like that, you need to watch where you’re going.”  
> 6\. Vivi’s says “Are you alright? That looked like it really hurt!” (Luffy meets her after he meets Nami though)  
> 7\. Zoro’s says “Yeah, I might be, what’s it to ya?”  
> 8\. Sanji’s says “I’ll do my best, I promise.” (Luffy just gave him the “my best friend is an emotionally constipated idiot, and that’s coming from me, so please be kind to him” talk)  
> Anyway, I live for your reviews.


End file.
